Quartz (Sio2 or Silica) is the most common
mineral found. This mineral occurs in virtually all colors (five
varieties have specific gem names) and in a huge variety of forms.
It is widespread and occurs in a variety of geologic environments. A
crystal is a mass of crystalline material that is bonded by natural
growth surfaces. The external shape of a crystal is called its
habit. The general study of crystal forms is called crystalography.

The surfaces of a crystal do not have to be
plane, shiny, and smooth. Several types might be an anhedral crystal
(having no plane faces at all), subhedral crystal (having crude
geometric shape or form), and euhedral crystal (bonded by plane
faces). A crystal is a crystal because of the way its atoms are
arranged. In a sense, the flat, smooth external faces of euhedral
crystals are an “accident” of crystal growth.

One peak of the Petersen Mountain Range,
spreading from Northern Nevada to California, is unique and a
geological wonder. This area is referred to as Hallelujah Junction
and is well known for world class quartz
specimens including large elestial
amethyst crystals and scepters.

A scepter crystal
is recognized as a naturally formed crystal which, at the base, is
penetrated by a rod; in actuality, the crystal formed around the
rod. There are several theories describing the formation of scepter
crystals. Exactly how scepters form isn’t all that well understood,
but some scientists explain some of it with simple geometry. The
silica molecules making up a quartz crystal are all empire builders
and do their best to pull in any silica molecules that go floating
by in the solution that surrounds a growing crystal. Under normal
conditions of very slow growth, a wandering molecule is as likely to
land in the middle of a crystal face as along an edge. The crystal
then grows evenly, with no part experiencing an advantage. If,
however, the solution has a super abundance of available molecules
and allows the crystal to grow more rapidly, then the electrical
charges that attract molecules out of solution stack the cards
somewhat in favor of an edge. This is because an edge can take
advantage of charges from the edge itself as well as from the two
faces that meet to form the edge: the edges get to gorge themselves
on silica molecules, while the middles of the faces become
nutritionally challenged. The point of a quartz crystal is the spot
where all of the lengthwise edges meet, so in rapid growth, the
point has the greatest advantage. The knob of a scepter is in a
sense a crystal point that has grabbed the lion’s share of the
available silica for itself, virtually starving the rest of the
crystal, which then becomes the scepter’s stem.

Another theory as quoted in an article in the
Lapidary Journal (1/98) is as follows:

Scepters appear to be quartz crystals in which
the rate of growth has increased at some time and resulted in a
termination or crystal point that is unusually large because rapid
growth favors crystals edges rather than faces, and the points have
lots of edge. Other habits of crystals also owe their strange shapes
to at least in part a change in growth rate, and bear some
relationship to scepters. In some cases, including some scepters,
growth becomes so rapid that even on the point nearly all of the
growth is on the edges and very little is in the middle of the
faces. The result is a sunken face habit that crystal growers call
“hopper- growth”: there’s actually a depression in the crystal
faces. The sunken faces of quartz crystals are occasionally sheeted
over by a thin layer of quartz that traps whatever water or mud
might have been around at the time. This type of crystal looks so
much like a window the Europeans refer to it as
Fenster Quartz, from das Fenster,
the German word for window.

Even though there are at least 200-300 scepter
localities around the world, few of them have produced scepters in
any notable number. Even at these most favored localities, finding a
good scepter is cause for jubilation – nature simply does not
produce many scepters.

The metaphysical properties of a scepter can be
described best by Melody, who stated (1995,532) that scepter
crystals “were used in Atlantis and Lemuria in healing ceremonies
and were a symbol of the power of the realm; those who carried or
wore a scepter crystal were in the position of high
priest/priestess”.

At localities such as Hallelujah (Petersen Peak,
Nevada), scepters and elestials are both found in the pockets.

Raphaell apparently introduced the term
elestial (1987, 129-133), to refer
to crystals that have grown rapidly under conditions of strong super
saturation resulting in extremely sunken faces and raised edges. As
she correctly points out, such crystals are also known as
skeletal crystals. It is more than
a little ironic that although the scientific and metaphysical
communities share the term scepter, the term elestial is not
recognized by the scientific world but seems to have come into
general use by collectors via the metaphysical world.

As stated by Melody, the
elestial crystals are unlike any other quartz
configuration. They are naturally terminated over the body of the
crystal, generally having no dulled or broken faces. This allows for
an incredible radiance as light reflects off of all of the natural
faces. Unlike regular quartz, the elestial crystals may have several
terminated points on a single piece or may be a single terminated
piece or may have no terminated apexes. The most distinguishing
characteristic of these crystals is the fact that they are etched
and layered with markings. Bringing into skeletal form the entirety
of primal life stuff, the elestials bear geometric patterns and
constructs which in and of themselves state profound laws of the
universe. It is as if the symbols of a cosmic alphabet have been
written and formed in these crystals. Because the elestial crystals
originate in realms unaffected by human emotion, they can be great
teachers in assisting us to understand the true nature of our
feelings and stabilize our natural expression of them.

Our thanks to Si and Ann Frazier who were kind enough to visit our
mine site and wrote an article in the Lapidary Journal, 1/98, from
which much of this information has been extracted.